


Constant Revelation

by doublejoint



Category: Fire Emblem: If | Fire Emblem: Fates
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-17
Updated: 2021-02-17
Packaged: 2021-03-12 04:22:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,012
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29504052
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/doublejoint/pseuds/doublejoint
Summary: Saizo trusts, perhaps in spite of himself.
Relationships: My Unit | Kamui | Corrin/Saizo
Comments: 2
Kudos: 6
Collections: February Ficlet Challenge 2021: Apocalypse No





	Constant Revelation

**Author's Note:**

> For Day 16 of the February Ficlet Challenge: Revelation
> 
> (this has nothing to do with the Revelation route ah well)

Saizo has been training his entire life to notice and be unnoticeable. Every change in the wind, every slight movement, a twitch in the corner of his eye or a rustle from behind, is recorded in his head, and then in his journals. (Memories are fallible, easily manipulated or forgotten, changed by magic that he doesn’t trust--yes, Lord Ryoma will say that Saizo doesn’t trust anything, but when serving a family like this one, full of people too willing to trust, Saizo can’t be too careful. Not that he would let up even if they always took proper precaution.) He can’t afford not to notice even the smallest changes in himself, though; he is the exception to the noticeability rule, overridden by the other one. If he is sore or aching, in pain, distracted, bothered, that can mean the difference between carrying out his duty and complete failure.

(“It probably won’t,” Kagero has said.

“Probably is not definitely,” Saizo always says back, and they never continue the conversation.)

So when he finds himself looking at Corrin a little too much, and the correct reason is not at the tip of his tongue, Saizo cannot let things be.

He has been observing Corrin, naturally, for quite some time, but she is not doing anything differently. She is not doing anything suspicious, aside from existing, which at this point is not quite so suspicious as he’d initially assumed. Saizo flips through his notes, looking back up at her, and then back to the notes. It’s impossible for the change to be in her. So, in that case, it must be something with him--but then what? Has he become complacent? Is he too invested in this mission, of the relatively low risk that Corrin poses compared to other dangers to Lord Ryoma, to his own training?

He would not notice that like this. He cannot fool himself; it unfurls like a leaf from around him. He has become attuned to her, with feelings he cannot say aloud, that run in counterpoint to this mission. On their own, they are no danger; when concerning someone like her--yet, would he have allowed himself this, even subconsciously, if she were a true danger? Are these feelings what keep him from finally laying the matter to rest?

* * *

She offers him candy. She forgets his preferences, despite having been told--and Saizo does not hold it against her, as proof of her dislike or disinterest; more to the point he would have written it down and remembered. She does not notice things the way she should, though that is, perhaps, the job of a retainer rather than a noble.

And yet, when they fight side-by-side in battle against the Nohrian forces with whom he no longer expects her to align herself (the blood she’d spilled before has caused her trouble, yes, but not the trouble of a loyalist, but the sadness of someone who cannot help but care and who cannot relinquish her own old attachments completely, so embedded they have become like nails through her skin) she is steady. She is strong. He throws his shuriken and she’s there to defend with her sword, with her dragonstone, plowing down enemies at close range. She is magnificent; she is everything a princess of Hoshido should be, and for a moment Saizo doesn’t feel so strange about his attraction. Is it not only natural to feel this way? 

(He feels nothing like that toward any of the other members of the royal family, though; this is unprecedented, unexpected.) 

Saizo could pore over weeks of notes, but to what end? To think of her more? If that’s his only motivation, there’s no reason. And if he is truly not suspicious of her, there’s even less reason than none. He could use his time in a more productive manner than that.

* * *

Perhaps his feelings will continue to grow. Perhaps they will be a consistent revelation. There is more to Corrin than her simple nature, than her lack of deception, than her bravery and loyalty, than her determination and skill in battle despite her wishes for peace. She is, at first glance, like a painting from far away, but up close the brushstrokes become clear. Saizo’s no artist; perhaps that’s not an apt comparison, but she’s so out of his usual realm of knowledge and duty that perhaps, in and of itself, it’s the best he can come up with.

* * *

“I like when you’re honest with me,” Corrin says.

“Am I not always?” says Saizo.

“Well,” Corrin says, chewing on her lip. “You’re not always forthright, I suppose.”

“Then choose your words more carefully.”

Corrin nods, a dip from in her head, her shoulders, sending her hair cascading forward; she pushes it back behind her in a practiced motion. (What is that headband good for, then?) She touches it, as if reading Saizo’s thoughts, as if noticing what he notices. He reaches out, catching a stray lock and tucking it behind her ear, his fingers grazing her neck intentionally. He doesn’t need to be so coy with her, though it’s much more forward than he would have been before he’d confessed. But is it forward enough? 

She raises her hand to hold his, her fingers rubbing over the scars on his knuckles. She smiles, and, yes, he thinks, this might be the kind of thing she wants, the kind of thing she’s talking about. He must make himself noticeable, bare himself in small ways; it is not enough to be clear with his words but to be forthcoming in his actions, to allow her to see him. She’s been noticing things on her own, but she wants him to tilt it further, and trusts him not to lose his balance. And he trusts her to catch him when he falls, to be at his back with her weapons as on the battlefield. Is it more than he should? Perhaps. But he will not back down from it; he will not lie to himself about it. He will not stop noticing her. 

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!


End file.
